Meeting Banner
Abstract #3387

Diffusional Kurtosis Imaging of Prostate Cancer: Effect of B-Values and Noise Compensation on Quantitative Parameters, Relative Contrast, and Short-Term Repeatability

Edward M. Lawrence1, Andrew N. Priest1, Tristan Barrett1, Anne Warren2, Ferdia A. Gallagher1, Vincent J. Gnanapragasam3, Evis Sala1

1Radiology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom; 2Histopathology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom; 3Urology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom


Diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) attempts to more accurately quantify water movement by taking into account the possibility of a non-Gaussian distribution. Research into the potential of DKI in the setting of body MRI has been limited and the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of b-values and noise compensation on the evaluation of prostate cancer using DKI. Our results showed that DKI is a robust technique that allows for significant differentiation of cancerous regions, as established by whole-mount pathology, regardless of DKI method or tumor location. The highest relative contrast was gained using a high b-value of 1500 s/mm2.